Cowboy Country

This morning, we came into possession of an email sent to a band that we help negotiate China.  We’ve alluded to the rise of the “government sponsored” music festival HERE, and we’ve also alluded to promoters etc. making false claims to further the aims of their dubious events (see SHOW OF PEACE).

And so to another, this time Suzhou, who are claiming that Green Day will be headlining their summer festival.  The exact words are:

The Suzhou International Music Festival Committee is delighted to invite BAND XXX to perform in our festival.

The First Suzhou International Music Festival runs from Friday 16th July – Sunday 18th July 2010 and will take place at Huoli Island, Xiangcheng, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, P.R.China. This festival is organized by Suzhou government, and will be an annual event. The Huoli Island is a transportation hub in suzhou city,the outdoor theater on Huoli Island can accommodate 100,000 audience. With full support from the Suzhou government and our sponsors, our committee is dedicated to make the Suzhou International music festival a high quality music event with the strongest musician lineup in China.

The festival will feature 3 stages, Rock stage (a.k.a main stage), New talent stage and electronic music stage (Attached please find our site planning). There well be more than 60 musician’s and music groups from around the world perform on these stages. Live shows on all three stages will start from 15:00 until midnight everyday, for 3 consecutive days. We are also delighted to have several world class musicians and rock bands to perform on our stage: Green Day (U.S), Glay (Japan) and Cui Jian (mainland China), just to name a few. Band XXX could take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to work with some of the world’s finest musicians, to meet their Chinese fans, and to gain new audience.

National media including CCTV and all major satellite TV stations; China International Radio Station and most provincial music radio stations; newspapers and magazines; major Web sites will all cover this festival.

We have (in our best police guise) spoken to Green Day this morning.  They 100% refute the claim above – Green Day will not be playing any festivals in July.

This ongoing opportunism hurts the music industry in China in myriad ways.  First, the bands that accept the invitation based on the information above generally arrive in China to a poorly organized event featuring none of the delicacies promised and leave with a bad taste in their collective mouths. Secondly, the large bands that continuously have their names taken in vain will increasingly despair of the “Wild East”.  They will find it impossible to weed out genuine offers and opportunities, and might end up ignoring China altogether.

The industry must be honest with itself and others. It is the only way for it to grow and improve.